Too Much Coffee

I finally opened up the roasting chamber of the Maggiolino after more than 160 roasts. I guess it was a good thing as it was full of burnt chaff and ash.

I was surprised to learn that there is absolutely no way to inspect or clean the drum as it is welded into a cage and aside from using a cutting torch there is no way to remove it. The drum is made of thick steel, is not perforated and has rather impressive vanes inside. It rotates quite quickly. Using a dentists mirror and small light I could see that it is completely clean inside, so getting in there is apparently not necessary.

After reassembling the roasting chamber I took off the back to expose the large drum motor and electrical connections. Temperature is controlled by a self-contained Omron E5En-YR40K with a thermocouple in front and inside the drum above the bean mass.

I was a bit shocked to find a Siemens motor controller (contactor), but since the roaster is not connected to the Internet I don't have to worry about it being infected with the Stuxnet worm.

After finally opening the beast up I am really impressed with the build quality and material used. This thing is really a battleship and should last a long time.

I plan to write up a complete description with pictures on my website and will announce it here when I get it done.

One thing that has me a bit puzzled is the name. Maggiolino is a beetle in italian. No matter how hard I try I can't see it as a beetle. The Italians called the first VWs Maggiolini, too, which makes some sense. As well built as it is, however, this is not a "Volks-roaster."

Very impressive Bruce. It looks to be built like a battleship.

I am looking forward to more photos and details.

Looks fab, I look forward to seeing the rest of the pictures on this one Bruce.

Quite honestly, there isn't a lot to see here. This roaster is very BASIC. There are few gadgets or clever doodads. Taking out the drum and cage must be quite tricky, replacing the heating element is going to require removing the drum motor, which also must require previous knowledge of how to do it because the way it comes out is not apparent. When I have to do those things I will contact the manufacturer. Patrick and others say that the manufacturer is quite helpful and friendly, so I'm not too worried about that. However, at this time I am not unnecessarily going to go any deeper into the machine. If I want to add computer control or a PID I can do that without further disassembly, just be removing the rear plate of the enclosure.
I will put up more pictures as I said above and a more detailed description.

That is a fair amount of debris. Very impressive looking machine

Thanks Bruce, an impressive machinery indeed! It's nice to get a peek into the bigger machines once in a while. And impressive how much gunk can build up everywhere, isn't it?

OK, I have put up a web page and made a slide show about the Maggiolino here.

It has lot of pictures that are unnecessary unless you are really interested in this roaster. I also wrote some details about the roaster itself since it is not that well known. Eventually, I will try to put up a video showing what it is like to roast with it.

Nice work Bruce, thanks for the pics. Looks ripe for a gas conversion! Is the rear of the drum perforated?

I removed one of those gearboxes(pgr drive tech or something?) or very similar looking. To get the box out remove the whole gearbox/motor in one. There may be a grub screw on the bit of the drum shaft sticking out of the gearbox-remove it. If not the box will just slide off the shaft when you undo the box mounts. Separate them after if required.

That may or may not be useful depending on if the gearbox is the same/similar

lsjms wrote:Nice work Bruce, thanks for the pics. Looks ripe for a gas conversion! Is the rear of the drum perforated?

I removed one of those gearboxes(pgr drive tech or something?) or very similar looking. To get the box out remove the whole gearbox/motor in one. There may be a grub screw on the bit of the drum shaft sticking out of the gearbox-remove it. If not the box will just slide off the shaft when you undo the box mounts. Separate them after if required.

That may or may not be useful depending on if the gearbox is the same/similar

A gas conversion would be very difficult because there really isn't room for a burner under the drum. It would mean making major changes to the chassis underneath. The back of the drum is not perforated as far as I can see. I don't think a conversion would be worth the effort.

Thanks for the tip! It probably does work that way.

Actually, I was thinking more about when it is necessary to remove the motor and gearbox together from the roaster. I have no idea what is holding the motor/gearbox in. It seems to hang from the shaft and then there are three posts around the drive that attach to in somehow. The posts transfer the torque to the casing so the motor doesn't turn around the axis, but there is no way to see how they hold the motor in. If I need to do this (to change the element, for instance) I will have to disassemble the rest of the housing, which means taking the controller, etc. out. I won't bother doing that until it is necessary.